University Senate Executive Committee
Wednesday, April 12, 2017
3:00 PM
UNH 306
Jim Collins, Senate Chair
Minutes
Present:
Collins, James; Durio, Saben; Fabris, Daniele; Fossett, James; Fox, Cynthia; Hamilton, Diane; Jerison, Michael;
Jewell, Carol; Mamorella, David; McNutt, Louise-Anne; Murray, Ann Marie (Delegate for Interim Provost);
Poehlmann, Christian; Reinhold, Karin; Skebe, Alifair; Smith, Christy
Guests:
Koslowski, Rey; Rethemeyer, R. Karl
The meeting convened at approximately 3:05 p.m.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
The minutes of March 20 were unanimously approved.
INTERIM PROVOST’S REPORT
Ann Marie Murray, Associate Provost for Program Development and Service Professor, reported on behalf of Interim
Provost Wheeler’s Office. Regarding Strategic Planning, she highlighted that they had met with the consultant and the
nine expedition groups had put together a plan. She added that those groups, integrated with members of the
administration, faculty and staff, would be meeting regularly to fill in timelines and consider resources needed.
SEC CHAIR’S REPORT – James Collins
I.
Informational
1.
On March 27 Chair Collins communicated with Governance Chair Karin Reinhold and Liaison Committee Chair Chris
Poehlmann about the Final Slate for the Senate Elections, with balloting April 3-7.
2.
On March 27 (GSA) Senator Dawn Wharram conferred with Chair Collins about a GSA request to the Interim President Stellar
for information on the University’s actions to protect international and DACA students.
3.
On March 29, Chair Collins communicated with Kathie Winchester about deadlines for the annual revision of the Undergraduate
Bulletin and Professor Joette Stefl-Mabry about proposals for assessment of academic and non-academic administrative units.
4.
On March 30, Chair Collins attended a meeting of the Presidential Search Committee in his capacity as a faculty member of the
committee. He proposed and was encouraged to communicate with all Voting Faculty and all Part-Time Faculty, requesting their
input on questions for the short-list of candidates for the University President.
5.
On March 30, Chair Collins received two bills for a BA in political Science/ MA in International Affairs and a BA in Public
Policy/MA in International Affairs.
6.
On March 30, Governance Chair Karin Reinhold communicated with Chair Collins about Council recommendations for part-
time faculty to be members of the Voting Faculty.
7.
On March 31, Chair Collins met with Governance Chair Karin Reinhold and Liaison Committee Chair Chris Poehlmann to plan
work for the Committee on Council Nominations.
8.
Chair Collins arranged to attend the Student Assembly senatorial meeting on April 5, in order to discuss shared governance with
SA senators, including their role in the University Senate, and strategies for better coordinating work between the two bodies.
II.
Actions taken
None
III.
Recommendations for actions
a.
Table till April 26 a report on procedures and routing of small administrative changes;
b.
Table till Fall 2017 discussion of recommendations and requests to specific councils from the reports on the 2016
Survey of Shared Governance.
Senate Chair Collins reminded that the spring Faculty Meeting was scheduled for Thursday, April 20 at 1:00 p.m. in the
Campus Center Ballroom and outlined the anticipated format and participants. The Committee on Council Nominations,
including the Senate Council Chairs, would meet on April 19 to assign 2017-18 volunteers. He asked members to
remind senators that quorum was needed for the next two Senate meetings. The Chair reported that he had
addressed the SA at its last Senate meeting and identified their SA Senate Chair as the contact regarding student
participation in the Faculty Senate. Chair Collins stated that he had also spoken with GSA Lead Senator Dawn
Wharren regarding coordination of GSA student membership and attendance. GSA President Durio recommended
that Chair Collins attend the next GSA meeting, when the new GSA President would be announced. SEC members
discussed a recommendation that the peopling of the council subcommittees be left up to incoming chairs.
OTHER REPORTS
UFS (University Faculty Senate) – Diane Hamilton, Walter Little & Latonia Spencer, SUNY Senators
The SUNY University Faculty Senate will meet at SUNY Canton on April 20 to 22. Any concerns or questions that University at
Albany senators have should be directed to Albany's representatives.
GSA (Graduate Student Association) – Seban Durio, GSA President
Nothing reported.
SA (Student Association) – Felix Abreu, Student Association President
Nothing reported.
COUNCIL/COMMITTEE CHAIRS’ REPORTS:
CAA (Council on Academic Assessment) – Alifair Skebe, Chair
Nothing reported
Chair Skebe added that CAA had met that morning. She reported that CAA had been informed that it would be
assuming the new responsibilities of assessing competencies within the major and looking at the review process for
assessing non-academic programs. The CAA Chair agreed to ask for clarification on these proposed responsibilities.
CAFFECoR (Committee on Academic Freedom, Freedom of Expression, and Community Responsibility) –Carol
Jewell, Chair
Nothing reported
CERS (Committee on Ethics in Research and Scholarship) – Michael Jerison, Chair
Nothing to report
Chair Jerison added the CERS webpage now had a link to procedures dealing with ethical misconduct. Chair
Collins noted that although CERS had important work when cases were reported, that work was infrequent. He
therefore suggested other options for member activity be considered.
COR (Council on Research) – Daniele Fabris, Chair
Nothing reported
CPCA (Council on Promotions and Continuing Appointments) – Louise-Anne McNutt, Chair
Nothing to report
CPCA Chair McNutt added that the open meeting to discuss adjusting the CPCA process for reviewing cases on April 6
Chair McNutt would draft announcement and submit it to Senate Chair for circulation to senators and teaching faculty.
GAC (Graduate Academic Council) – James Fossett, Chair
Nothing reported
Chair Fossett reported that GAC had approved the two proposals under new business and a third proposal for a
BA related to the School of Public Health and Albany College of Pharmacy. He noted that a response to the
request for a statement on international students, faculty and staff was pending. UPPC Chair Cynthia Fox recalled
the response from Ann Marie Murray immediately following the last Senate meeting.
GOV (Governance Council) – Karin Reinhold, Chair
On Mar 29th: Governance considered enfranchising part time faculty. Informed by the reports on contingent concerns written by the Blue
Ribbon panel (Report of the Panel on Part-time and Contingent Faculty and Staff) and UUP (Woven Into its Very Fabric: a Report on
Contingent Labor at the University at Albany, Survey Data Analysis and Policy Proposals), as well as the AAUP report (The inclusion in
Governance of Faculty Members holding Contingent Appointments), the council agreed to extend voting rights to part time faculty.
Historically, part time faculty were not given voting rights because they were though as being hired on short, temporary situation. This
has ceased to be the case at our institution and nationwide. A large percentage of faculty holding part time appointments work in their
positions for several years in a row. More than 20% of part time faculty has been in their position for more than 10 years. Therefore, the
council decided to grant voting rights to part time faculty who has been employed a minimum of one year or a minimum of two
semesters.
Part time teaching faculty consists of more than 50% of the teaching faculty. Adding them to the roster of voting faculty will have
consequences to voting procedures that require a quorum of faculty. Keeping the current rules for amending the Bylaws with a
considerably larger roster of voting faculty could prove unworkable. Therefore, the council also recommended reconsidering the
procedure for amending the Senate Bylaws.
The Chair requested recommendations for the Senate webpage which are listed below.
The Council discussed issues related to video recording of Senate meetings. Some concerns presented by the chair were that people would
be afraid to talk at Senate meetings because they are being videotaped or that people would be less candid in their presentations because
of a fear that what they say can be taken out of context and misused. The Council felt that these could be initial responses but that people
soon would feel comfortable enough with the technology that it would not be a serious detriment to Senate discussions. A few members
were familiar with the videotaping of Senate meetings in Florida and they felt comfortable with it. In general, it was felt that the
advantage of having this technology that brings information out the larger community in a direct way, without the processing that minutes
are subject to, and in a much faster way, far outweighs the possible negative side.
On Mar 31st, Collins, Poehlmann, and Reinhold met to discuss the process for council membership for next year.
Recommendations:
1.
Procedures to enfranchise part time faculty should go together with a new procedure to amend the Senate Bylaws.
2.
Recommendations for the Senate website:
a.
Front Senate page should have a) News, b) top issues/cases/stories the Senate is considering, and if appropriate c)
information about a particular issue.
b.
More frequent updating of legislation.
c.
In the membership area, each individual Senator should be able to post articles on Senate issues (blog).
d.
Support for the webpages. Elisa may get overwhelmed.
e.
Easy access to updates on the status of programs, resolutions, etc that have been submitted to the Senate for review.
f.
Each sub-council should have a brief description “about this body”.
g.
UPPC should have a link to information about the university budget.
Actions taken:
The Governance Council endorsed:
1.
The proposal for governance representation in the Assessment Advisory Committee. LISC (Council on Libraries,
Information Systems, and Computing) – David Mamorella, Chair
Faculty searches
o
Director of Technical Services and Library Systems. We are holding four on-campus interviews.
2.
Subject Librarian for Anthropology, Geography and Planning, and Communications. This search h
3.
Enfranchising part time faculty.
The Governance Council approved a Charter amendment of Section IX: Amendment of the Charter. The current version requires
2/3 of Senators to pass. The proposal changes this requirement to 2/3 of voting Senators.
o
as been completed; Priscilla Seaman will be joining the Libraries on April 20. Priscilla comes to us from the University
of Tennessee at Chattanooga. She has a BA in Anthropology from UAlbany, and an MSIS from the University of
Tennessee at Knoxville.
o
Web Developer/Designer. Our search for this position was unsuccessful; we will re-assess this position after the
Director of Technical Services and Library Systems is on board.
The Library Hours Task Force has completed its work and submitted recommendations to the Library Policy Group. As part of
its work, the Task Force conducted a survey of faculty, staff, and students, receiving 803 responses from students and 548 from
faculty and staff. We will be reviewing their recommendations with the goal of implementing any changes to our hours in the
fall.
Virtual Research Consultations Task Force. The Libraries have formed a group to investigate our ability to offer virtual research
consultations. Currently, we offer in person research consultations by appointment in addition to our chat, email, phone, and in-
person reference assistance. The ability to offer virtual research consultations will allow us to reach more of our students,
including those enrolled in online courses.
GOV Chair Reinhold added the following to her written report:
Results of the elections, as sent to all voting faculty:
Bylaws Amendments: There were 308 votes and strong support for the amendments to the bylaws. The
count fell short of 30% of voting faculty, therefore the amendments did not pass.
Open at large: Billie Franchini & Maritza Martinez
Professional at large: Annette Richie
Part time at large: Virginia Yonkers & Patricia Keyes
The Committee on Council Nominations meeting would take place on April 19 at 2:45 in UNH 306.
Attendance at the following fora co-sponsored by the Senate was encouraged:
Identity and Branding April 18
Downtown campus: 11:00 a.m., HS106A Auditorium
Uptown campus: 3:00 p.m., Assembly Hall
Forum on Immigration: April 17, 4:30 to 6:00 p.m., Assembly Hall.
LISC (Council on Libraries, Information Systems, and Computing) – David Mamorella, Chair
Nothing to report
Chair Mamorella added that Vice President for Information Technology Services and CIO Simeon Ananou had
reuqested to speak briefly at the final Senate meeting.
UAC (Undergraduate Academic Council) –Karen Kiorpes and Christy Smith, Co-Chairs
Nothing reported
Co-Chair Christy Smith reported that UAC had met the previous day. She had been approached by a school/college on
an issue affecting students, including TAP issues and potential inability to finish the experiential piece of a major.
Chair Collins asked for more information in order to take the issue to the upcoming regular meeting with
administrative leadership.
ULC (University Life Council) – Ekow King, Chair
Nothing reported
UPPC (University Planning and Policy Council) – Cynthia Fox, Chair
We are in the process of setting the agenda for our next meeting, also scheduled for April 12.
Chair Fox added that UPPC had met that morning, where Vice President for Finance and Administration Jim Van
Voorst had provided an update on the recently passed NY budget and discussed complications of how the
Excelsior program will be implemented. She reported that UPPC had approved the following proposals:
Proposal to create a minor in Educational Policy and Leadership (SOE)
Proposal for an Advanced Graduate Certificate in Community College Leadership (SOE)
Revision of selected CEN courses to meet ABET accreditation requirements (CEAS)
Proposal for a Semester in Washington Program (Rockefeller College and CEHC)
At Chair Collins’ request, a motion was made and unanimously approved to move to new business.
NEW BUSINESS
Senate Bill 1617-03: PROPOSAL TO ESTABLISH B.A. / M.I.A. PROGRAMS
Director of the Master of International Affairs Program Rey Koslowski, with Interim Dean R. Karl Rethemeyer,
provided background on and an overview of the proposal, which had been approved by UPPC, GAC and UAC.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to support that the above resolution go to the Senate floor.
Charter Amendment 1617-01A: AMENDMENT RE SECTION IX OF THE CHARTER
GOV Chair Karin Reinhold reviewed the above amendment and rationale, although the related 1617BA-02
FACULTY BYLAWS AMENDMENT DEFINING QUORUM FOR SENATE MEETINGS had not passed.
Members discussed potential changes, including a modification to the rationale.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to support that the above amendment, with modifications to the
rationale as discussed, go to the Senate floor.
Charter Amendment 1617-02A: AMENDMENT RE UPDATES TO SECTION X.7 (CPCA)
CPCA Chair McNutt presented the background and rationale for the above amendment. A friendly amendment to
the amendment was proposed, notated in purple, as follows:
A motion was made and unanimously approved in support of the friendly amendment to the amendment. A motion
was then made and unanimously approved to accept that amendment 1617-02A was ready to go to the Senate
floor, as amended and with minor modifications to the rationale as discussed.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 4:48 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by
Elisa Lopez, Recorder
